


Sub Mission

by quiet__tiger



Category: Batman - All Media Types
Genre: Drama, Gen, Humor
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-07
Updated: 2017-05-07
Packaged: 2018-10-29 06:24:10
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 427
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10848282
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/quiet__tiger/pseuds/quiet__tiger
Summary: Robin gains some experience with another Bat-toy.





	Sub Mission

**Author's Note:**

> Prompt: "Water."
> 
> Originally posted to Livejournal 28th-Oct-2010.

The harbor was _disgusting_.

Robin had always known that Gotham Harbor was gross; there had been a special assembly in elementary school about it one year around Earth Day. The water was polluted and dark and just not something in which one should ever submerse himself. (Rumors about what the gangsters used it for didn’t help.)

Which of course made learning how to pilot the Batsub _that much more unpleasant_ than it would have been in clean, clear, healthy waters. It was bad enough he had to _sit_ there, Batman giving him directions, but to maneuver the sub through the murky, thick water was slowly driving him crazy.

And it was _nighttime_ so he wasn’t able to see well anyway.

How often did criminals try to escape or hide in water anyway?

Batman showed him how to use the robotic arm to pick up things (tires, sunken dock planks, rocks) and move them, and how to use the different search lights, cameras, and various other toys with which the sub was equipped.

Robin was almost having a good time in the cramped, dark space and was trying to stack three tires with the arm when Batman said something that made him freeze. “Say that again?”

“I said while it’s quiet out there we should go over how to exit the submarine and go scuba diving.”

“Out _there_?” Robin pointed toward the front window and an angry looking toothy fish swam in front of the sub.

“You need to be able to quickly and efficiently exit the craft in case of emergency or to reach something or perform some other action the sub can’t help you with while you’re inside of it.”

“But it’s so…” Robin gestured, futilely he knew, towards the darkness.

“Which is why criminals don’t expect us to follow, which is exactly why we need to become comfortable underneath the surface of the harbor.”

Batman’s voice was slowly sinking into his _this is for your own good if you want to continue to be Robin_ tone, so Robin relented. “All right. But if I grow tentacles or something from being out there, it’ll be your fault.”

Batman replied dryly, “I haven’t grown tentacles yet. You’ll be fine. And there’s a wetsuit in your size so you’ll have protection from the temperature.”

Small favors, right?

While contorting himself into the wetsuit, Robin wondered if he could convince his science teacher to start some sort of project to clean the harbor. And meanwhile he’d keep his fingers crossed that criminals stuck to the streets or the sky.


End file.
